How it started: Part Five

On March 3rd, 2011, 11 MassArt students, two faculty members and myself all boarded a plane and headed to Antigua, Guatemala!

We took one plane to Houston, TX, then transferred to a plane to Guatemala City. Our day was long and we were mostly sitting the whole time, so by the time we got to Guatemala City and got into our bus, everyone was exhausted; except me. I was so excited to be in Guatemala that I had my window open and was practically falling out of it while we were driving from Guatemala City to Antigua. At one turn I really did start to tumble out the window, but luckily I made it to Antigua in one piece.

Our main base was in Antigua at an absolutely lovely hotel called Casa en Familia. I roomed with a fellow art ed major and friend, Elissa. Our first full day in Antigua was spent at a coffee farm in a small town outside of Antigua. The farm land was built up on the side of one of the three volcanoes surrounding the bowl Antigua is in. The farmers in that area work with a group called As Green As It Gets, which helps farmers learn every stage of coffee farming and selling.

On the second day, we all got on to another plane and flew to Flores in the Peten. We went for a tour of Flores and then drove to Tikal.

At Tikal we went to several of the temples, including Temple 4, the tallest of the temples in Tikal. Everyone also got to see me at my worst; I am very afraid of heights, but I still climbed all of the temples and spent time on the tops of all of them. I also went to the Tikal museum with Prof. Turner. That was an absolute treat for me, because I was finally able to see, in person, several of the pieces I had studied.

Tikal was wonderful, though Yaxha, the next point on our trip, was even better. We drove to Yaxha from Tikal, and it was on that drive that I realized what it was about Guatemala that really called to me; I felt like I was home. I was leaning out the window of the bus again, looking at the scenery in the country side, smelling the air, and watching the houses go by, I felt a comfort I had only ever felt at my Grandparents farm. I remember I turned to Prof. Turner and said that I couldn't believe it, but I felt like I would turn the corner and be at my Grandmas house. The sensation was incredible.

When we got to Yaxha, everyone felt comfortable. The hotel was built by the producers of Survivor; they had used Yaxha for Survivor: Guatemala. It was a beautiful series of bungalows right on the bank of the lake. We spent the night talking about working on the mural in Santiago Zamora. Prof. Turner's daughter talked about the students we would be working with and explained to us some about the man behind El Plan Infinito, the school on the side of which we would be painting the mural. We also all went over the design ideas I had sketched out for the mural. Several of us got very involved figuring out what symbols and designs we wanted to present to the director and to the towns artist Edgar, who we worked with throughout painting the mural.

The next morning we all got up very early and went to the park in the mists of dawn. We were practically alone in the park, since it is not as famous as Tikal. A lot of the temples have not been excavated so the whole park is an eerie jungle filled with mounds that were once temples and buildings. we spent the morning wondering through the park then drove back to Flores to grab a plane back to Antigua.

Stay tuned for part six!